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Boy

Boy

Boy

Today’s my day for checking out of Cinequest 2015, and honestly, while I look forward to returning to snowy New York, I’ll miss the good times I’ve had here in California. Obviously, as I mentioned in my post on Write Shoot Cut, I didn’t know really what to expect, or how the festival would even play out. And yet, here I am, waiting on my flight, beaming from ear-to-ear because I’ve realized just how much can be taken from a well-run event, when everybody is open and enthused. It’s a totally different experience to any other festival I’ve visited before.

Day one of the festival proper for us began at 2:30AM, in the shuttle bus from our hotel back to O'Hare International Airport, where we were surprised to see our flight from Chicago to Phoenix was overstuffed with equally overtired, and irate, people. Headphones on. Time to disappear into the new Panda Bear record.

Film festivals are, at first blush, all about the movies. You get your pass and you go cram your day with as many screenings as you possibly can. But in truth, that’s only the half of it. The other side is the networking.

Picture this; you meet somebody at a bar one night, there’s chemistry, you talk, you flirt, you go home together. Kisses, drinks, more kisses, to the couch, clothes being pulled off, he binds her arms with his belt.

The thing that you never remember about film festivals, but are duly reminded of every time, is just how overwhelming they can be. You bounce from movie to movie, meet up to meet up, conversation to conversation. Time slips as you’re promising to go to any number of movies, whilst also reminding yourself to stop and grab a bite to eat from some place.

Emilie has the body of a girl, but she wants the body of a boy. Her mother on the other hand, struggling with the possibility of imagined social shame, refuses to acknowledge the feelings of her child. This is the very simple premise of Lucas Helth Postma’sBoy.

One of the best things that can happen to a filmmaker is an approach from a sales agent or an offer from a distributor. It’s not just the sudden promise of untold riches, but also that your parents can finally breathe a sigh of relief over your choice of career.

But not every deal is created equally, so whilst the bragging rights are awesome, often the details themselves are not. From crippling licensing periods to fuzzy clauses in relation to royalties, signing a deal can quickly turn into a bad dream.